Zein Khalil and Mohammad Sio
19 August 2026•Update: 19 August 2026
Israel has recovered the remains of a soldier killed during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.
“In a special operation by the IDF (army) and the Mossad, we brought home the remains of Armored Corps fighter, Sgt. First Class Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, of blessed memory, who fell in battle at Sultan Yacoub in June 1982 during the First Lebanon War,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.
The Battle of Sultan Yacoub, a Lebanese village near the Syrian border, took place in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on June 11, 1982, on the sixth day of Israel’s invasion. Syrian and Israeli forces along with fighters from the Palestine Liberation Organization and Lebanese armed groups took part.
Twenty Israeli soldiers were killed, dozens were wounded and six others went missing at the end of the battle, according to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily. All six missing soldiers have been accounted for, concluding a 44-year national effort by Israel’s security forces.
“About seven years ago, we returned Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel, of blessed memory, to burial in Israel. In May 2025, we returned Sgt. First Class Zvi Feldman,” the statement added.
The Israeli military said in a statement that Katz’s remains were recovered “through intelligence-based efforts as part of a series of intelligence and military operations that continued for more than four decades after he was killed in the battle.”
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported earlier Tuesday that Katz’s remains had been found.